Dos de Mayo

Dos de Mayo was an uprising launched by the citizens of the Spanish capital city of Madrid against the occupying French Army forces on 2 May 1808. The uprising occurred after Napoleon ordered for King Fernando VII of Spain's youngest brother Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain to be moved to Bayonne, France to live in exile, and crowds of people attempted to storm the royal palace to prevent the infante from being moved. Marshal Joachim Murat dispatched grenadiers to put down the uprising, but Spanish Army officers Pedro Velarde y Santillan and Luis Daoiz y Torres took command of some mutinous Spanish troops and took over the Monteleon artillery barracks and fought against the French. Murat declared martial law in the city, and he sent in troops to crush the uprising, killing 500 people (including 113 prisoners executed) after fierce street fighting. The French lost anywhere between 31 and 150 men, and they managed to crush the uprising with sheer brutality. The Tres de Mayo massacres would follow the next day.